Solitude

How often do you take time to just “be” by yourself?

I’ve grown so used to it over the years that it’s now my default state. So when I find myself in the middle of a busy family’s chaos from time to time, or a large group where there’s a lot of activity happening, it can often seem a little jarring. Especially to an introvert.

But over the years, I’ve come to enjoy and appreciate solitude. It offers me space for self-reflection, and after the hectic pace of these past couple of decades, I now appreciate the quiet time to “just think” and understand why certain things have occurred as they have. Things that at the time I was just too busy to comprehend at deeper levels, yet knew I just needed act or react.

And alongside self-reflection, solitude allows me to recharge as I need to. Whether emotionally or physically, recharging is a vital ingredient to “keeping going”, particularly as the years start to take their toll. I wish I’d understood this more completely much earlier in life.

Solitude can also enhance both creativity and productivity. I’ve discovered that being alone can give me space to tap into my own inventiveness and make connections that sometimes even surprise me. At a time in life when I don’t particularly want to acquire too many new things, it seems that I’ve often had insight to repurpose things I already have. And of course, having fewer interruptions, also allows me to spend more time in the “flow state”, and at least feel like I can get more done than I used to be able to. 

And just yesterday I was speaking with a neighbor about how living alone sparks inventiveness and resourcefulness. Often, with no one else to ask for help, we can still somehow just figure out how to accomplish a challenging task ourselves!